Amun typically appears as a man wearing a tall, double-plumed headdress.
His tall headdress is missing from this statue, but his crown bears
traces of gilding. Amun wears the false beard of a deity, an elaborately
beaded broad collar, and a short kilt decorated on the belt with
a tyet-amulet, a symbol related both to the goddess Isis and to
the ankh, the hieroglyph meaning “life”. The god also
holds ankhs indicating his immortality. His hands, which have been
intentionally cut back, may represent a deliberate alteration to
allow the statue to fit into a shrine or a portable ceremonial boat
used to carry it in processions.

Photo:
Tom Jenkins.

Monumental
wall relief of the royal family worshipping Aten, possibly
from Amarna, Dynasty 18, reign of Akhenaten (1353-1336 BCE), quartzite

This monumental wall relief depicts the solar diety Aten as a disk
hovering above the pharaoh Akhenaten and a female member of the
royal family. The Aten’s rays descend toward the figures,
each terminating in a hand. Some time after the restoration of the
traditional religion, this relief was cut down, placed face down
on the ground, re-inscribed, and reused, probably as a base for
a statue in the shape of a sphinx for the later pharaoh Merenptah
(1213-1204 BCE). Ironically, this recycling accidentally preserved
the decorated front of the relief from total destruction.

Photo:
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

This seal takes the form of a prostrate king in prayer before the
god Atum, whose name appears between the king’s hands. The
inscription lists both the king’s birth name, Amenhotep, and
his throne name which he received upon coronation, Neb-maat-Re.
It also has the following titles: “The good god,” “Lord
of the Two Lands,” and “Ruler of Thebes.”

Photo:
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Amarna art placed considerable emphasis on the six daughters of
Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Meritaten, Meketaten, Ankhesenpaaten, Nefernefruaten
Tasherit, Nefernefrure and Setepenre. These princesses appear in
scenes of the royal family worshipping the Aten and in domestic
settings, as well as in sculpture in the round. The identity of
this princess is not known.

Photo:
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Brilliantly colored and designed as part of a larger statue, this
figurine was likely set up in a shrine or temple at Memphis. The
god Ptah appears seated on a low-back throne, inscribed with the
standard epithets or descriptions of the deity. Holding a was-scepter,
formed from the hieroglyph meaning “dominion,” he wears
a special feathered garment over his usual mummiform costume –
a feature found on a few other representations of Ptah from the
reigns of Amenhotep III and Tutankhamun. This small masterpiece
attests to the skill of the workers in ancient faience workshops.

As a warlike and protective goddess, imagery of Sekhmet often accompanied
the pharaoh into battle. With her fiery arrows, she could send plagues
and other diseases against her (and Pharaoh’s) enemies. The
Egyptians also invoked her to ward off or cure diseases. Some scholars
believe that a plague during the reign of Amenhotep III may have
prompted that king to erect numerous statues of this goddess as
an appeal for divine help. This Sekhmet statue is one of the less-common
standing types.

Meryma’at was a barber in the cult of Amun. The inscription
on his kilt is a prayer to that god requesting offerings of food
and drink and a happy life for his ka, or life force. Barbers
had an important function in the temple, since priests had to shave
their entire bodies before performing rites. Originally a pair statue,
the figure of his wife has broken away. Her hand can be seen on
his shoulder. The hieroglyphs on his chest read “Amun”.
The fleshy form of his body reflects the Amarna style, influences
of which remained even after the period ended.

Photo:
Tom Jenkins.

Comb,
Amarna, Dynasty 18, reign of Akhenaten (1353-1336 BCE), wood

Egyptians carved double-sided combs much like modern examples with
thick teeth on one side and fine teeth along the other. Ancient
hairstyles, especially those of women, were often quite elaborate.
Combs like this would have been used for both natural hair and for
wigs which were worn by both men and women.

Photo:
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Excavators found a huge volume of faience and glass items, including
decorative elements like inlays for royal buildings in Akhenaten's
new royal city. This industrial activity helped support Amarna’s
economy. Thousands of faience molds, such as the ones pictured here,
attest to the massive output of small objects in that material.
Some may also have been exported and traded throughout Egypt. The
popularity of faience and glass at the time may rest in part on
their shiny, glittering, and dazzling surfaces, perhaps understood
as reflecting elements of the Aten.

Photo:
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.